Latino Daily News

Mexico’s Cemex Buys Ireland’s Readymix

Mexico’s Cemex, one of the world’s three largest cement companies, said it has agreed to acquire all of the shares in Ireland’s Readymix PLC it did not already hold for 10.6 million euros ($14.2 million).

The Mexican firm said in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange that it would make the share acquisition through its Cemex Spain unit.

Cemex said in the filing that it agreed to acquire the stake it did not already own in its subsidiary - approximately 39 percent of the total - for 0.25 euros ($0.36) per share.

The transaction must still be approved by Readymix’s shareholders, although the filing said that the company’s Irish shareholders consider Cemex’s offer to be “fair and reasonable.”

Founded in 1906, Cemex operates in more than 50 countries and is one of the world’s “big three” cement makers along with France’s Lafarge and Switzerland’s Holcim.

The Mexican company posted a net loss of more than $1.5 billion in 2011, or 18 percent higher than the previous year’s net loss, although sales, which climbed 8 percent, were up for the first time in four years.

The cement giant’s balance sheet was battered by the global recession and the accompanying slump in construction.